Soft rock adventure....

Managed to sneak out of the city and climb at a pretty fantastic crag in the Glasshouse Mountains an hour north of Brisbane on Sunday. This crag is a typical Ryholite volcanic type that cools slowly from molten rock, leaving behind columar pillars with cracks and aretes----aka.....excellent climbing. The rock was a little soft (maybe like hard chalk) and gear probably would have ripped out in a big fall, but was fantastic to climb, and highly featured...

Heres some pics of the day, did a fantastic 5star climb called 'icehouse'...very scary but altogether straightforward and a long rope stretching 50m pitch...lots of air!!

heres the view....


ready for some runouts on soft rock...





Kristy following


Enough already...too hot!


lots of fun for all...and we drank about 10 litres of water each!

To the late Simon Vos....

A really good friend/climber passed away this last Saturday...details not necessary, but he was doing what he loved as always and the accident was out of his control. The 'hardest' climber I knew personally, but the softest person.

Simon's death has really touched my life personally, and as always the grieving are left with the stark realisation that death is a natural part of the life cycle, and almost the one thing we are guaranteed in life...is death. What hits home is a) how much we take people for granted, and b) that we often don't get to say goodbye.

I guess in any situation there are positives that come to fruition, certainly with Simon, who eminates true stoke and was always a true gentlemen....has left a lasting impact on the climbing community in Brisbane and SE Queensland, and was an inspiration to us all....He pushed everyone around him to better themselves and constantly improve, the first to offer advice, the last to leave and one of the funniest people to be around.

I keep thinking this was a bad dream...and he'll ring me up with some epic idea for the weekend...

Some pictures of 'thumbs up' Simon on some climbing trips around SE Queensland...

Somewhere up high...note the bad rock and he's still smiling!


Classic goofer


Rackin up for a big one...


Simon!


Simon and Vince



Too many amazing trips and memories...hope the climbs are long and the rock perfect...

Hes totally gonna get reincarnated as a lizard...Although maybe that was his previous life...???

Thanks mate...it was a pleasure.

Granite Playground

Managed to do another low-cost mission into the Australian brushland to climb some uniquely featured rocks in the Girraween Nat'l park.

This area is amazing, part of the granite belt near the NSW/Qland border, it is characterised by a moonscape of granite, balancing rocks, boulders and huge multipitch slabs...Brought a whole rack and placed maybe 5 peices of pro all weekend and clipped lots of runout, rusty bolts...

But really inspiring to exist in such a cool setting, so far removed from the hustle and bustle of the Brisbane/SE Queensland lifestyle. To relax in the crisp air, see stars again and watch the Kangaroos and Parrots frolic in the wilderness, completely oblivious to our presence. Its good to get back to our human roots and not ignore our ties with the natural environment, away from the luxurious and capitalistic lifestyles that dominate our existence.

Its getting into crunch time as the school semester deadlines are approaching quickly. Lots of late-nights will characterise this period until about the end of October. Maybe a couple of binge-climbing events will highlight my existence during this period...working in a psuedo-proffessional position has stretched my remaining time resources significantly.